This is the direction which he himself gives you: "Who is among you that walketh in darkness, and hath no light ? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his Gode." And if the time for your deliverance seem to be utterly passed, go with the Hebrew youths into the fiery furnace, taking God's express promise with youf, and say with Job, " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in himg."]
e Isai. 1. 10. f Isai. xliii. 2, 3.
s Job xiii. 15. See the whole subject illustrated in Ps. xxx. 1 — 12.
Abraham's promised seed.
Gen. xxii. 18. In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed.
THERE is nothing in man which can merit the divine favour : the promises of God to us are alto- gether free, resulting wholly from his sovereign grace : yet does God frequently manifest his love towards us in consequence of something done by us. Abraham, it should seem, was an idolater, when God first made himself known to him in his native land : and then did the Almighty promise, that in him should all the families of the earth be blessed. But, in the passage before us, Abraham is recorded to have performed the most extraordinary act of obedience that ever was known from the foundation of the world: and God takes occasion from that to renew his promise, and, for his more abundant consolation, to confirm it with an oath. To ascertain the full import of this glorious prophecy, it will be proper to inquire,
I. Who is the seed here spoken of —
It is not to all the natural descendants, or to that part of them that composed the Jewish nation, or even to the spiritual seed of Abraham, that these words refer : they speak of one particular individual, the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. To him all the types direct our attention —
[The temple with all its utensils, the priests with all their habits and services, the sacrifices and oblations of every kind,
37.1 Abraham's promised seed. 191
all shadowed forth his work and offices. The principal events in the Jewish history, together with the great persons engaged in them, their lawgiver, their commanders, judges, kings, and prophets, prefigured him in different points of view, and, as so many lines, meet in liim as their common centre. On this account we have reason to think that the prophecy hefore us relates to him.]
2. In him all the prophecies receive their accom- plishment—
[However some of the prophecies might be partially ful- filled in Solomon or others, it is certain that all of them together were never accomplished in any one but Jesus. They were intended to designate him, that, when he should arrive, there might be no doubt of his being the very person fore-ordained of God to be the Saviour of the world. The minute descrip- tion of the promised Messiah, together with the marvellous combination of circumstances that marked Jesus as the person foretold, lead us further to believe that the text had particular respect to him.]
3. To him exclusively the text is applied by God
himself —
[St. Paul tells us that the blessing of Abraham was to come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ a; and that the words of the text related, not to others, but to Christ alone b.]
This point being ascertained, let us inquire,
II. In what respect all nations are blessed in him —
The full accomplishment of the text will not take place till that glorious period when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea. Yet, in a limited sense, all nations have experienced the truth of this prophecy already.
1. They are reconciled to God through him —
[Christ died not for one nation only; he was a propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Many of all nations have already believed in his name, and rejoiced in his salvation : and in every place they who believe in him shall find accept- ance with their Godc.]